Decorating fabrics



March 13, 1934. Q BURDlCK 1,950,838

DECORATI NG FABRICS Filed July 13, 1929 '7 Sheets-Sheet l ngz Mardi 13, 1934. c. L. BURDICK 1,950,838

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DECORATING FABRICS Filed July 13. 1929 '7 Sheets-Sheet '7 Patented Mar. 13, 1934 UNITED STATES PATEN OFFICE DECORATING FABRICS Charles Laurence Burdick, London, England Application July 13, 1929, Serial No. 378,920 In Great Britain August 21, 1928 12 Claims.

The invention relates to machines designed to distribute liquids of various kinds, such as dyes, mordants, pigment colors and the like onto continuous lengths of fabric, such as cloth, silks,

woven fabric, paper and the like, for 4the purpose of producing decorative eflects or for coating or damping such surfaces.

The invention may be used in connection with stencilling apparatus if required.

I am aware that sprayers have been designed for this Work which have been mounted above or in juxtaposition with moving fabric and have been moved transversely to the line of travel of the fabric for producing decorative effects.

The present invention provides a novel mounting for such sprayers which permits of a variety of movements for each individual sprayer, which, combined with the movement of the fabric, will produce many novel decorative effects.

In apparatus made in accordance with the invention, the sprayers are mounted from a universal joint or the equivalent, permitting them free movement, so that any desired motion can be imparted to them within a considerable proportion of a hemisphere. In this manner the delivery of the sprayers can be caused to point at any desired angle to the surface, to vary such angle during the course of a controlled movement, to assume gyratory movement either about an axis perpendicular to the surface of the fabric, or about an inclined axis; and by controlling the extent of throw of the movement, the supply of air and coloring fluid and the relative speed of movement between the sprayer and fabric, a greater variety of shadings and of patterns particularly comprising spirals and circles and fragments of spirals and circles can be produced. The production of such movements in a preferred form of the invention will be described and itself forms a feature of the invention.

Figure 4 is a detail showing the spraying device with universal mounting.

Figure 5 shows a modification. Figures 6 and 7 are an elevation and plan respectively of an attachment. As illustrated, the fabric i may be moved at any desired speed, either' continuously or intenmitt-ently, as will be described later. Two rows of sprayers are shown carried from the frame of the machine by brackets 2, 2, relatively to which the actual sprayer supports 3, 3 are vertically ad- 6a justable by means of worm wheels 4 with handles 5 and worms the driving shafts 7 being splined and in effect telescopic. At the upper end of the supports 3, 3 is mounted a transverse member 8 through holes 90 in which freely pass rods 91 which are connected to the sprayers by means of universal joints 9, 9. Only the two sprayers at the extreme ends of the row are shown, but any convenient number may be closely spaced between them and they may be adjustably attached to the transverse member 8, which is itself adjustable by means of the thread 10 and hand wheel 11.

Near their lower ends the sprayers are guided by giinbal mountings 15 in which they are piv- 75" oted by screws 5l and which are pivoted in a common longitudinal frame 13 by screws 52 shown dotted in Figure 4. The frame 13 is slidably borne in grooves 50 in an open frame 12 and is axially adjustable by a hand wheel 13a which is attached to a screw carried by the frame 13 and engaging screw-threads in a cross piece of the frame 12. The open frame l2 is provided at its endswith supporting bushings la and vertical spindles lea. These spindles 14a in turn engage in small bushes adjustable by means of screwed spindles 16 in radial slots formed in the crank webs 17, whereby the eective throw of the crank may be varied in a well known manner to impart a varying rom I tarymotion to the open frame 12.

t will thus be apparent that upon rotation of the driving shafts 7, a varying circularrmovement can be imparted to the frame 12 and that each oi the spraying nozzles will gyrate about an aXis passing through the universal joint 9 at any inclination predetermined by the relative setting of the member 8, the frame 12 and the frame 13. Each sprayer has an associated electro-magnet controlling the usual air and coloring uid valves which may thus be turned on or off simultaneously or in succession or by batches by means of a contact breaker, indicated at 18. This is of normal construction and may be on the lines described in my prior British Patents Nos. 8,703 of 1903 and 4,211 of 1905 and is, therefore, not more fully detailed herein. It will be understood that air and coloring iluid may be supplied to the sprayers by flexible tubing.

Before considering the various effects to be obtained, it may be well to briey describe the arrangement for obtaining a continuous or intermittent drive of the fabric and a variable speed drive of the sprayer-moving mechanism.

It will be seen from Figure 1 that the silk or other fabric 1 to be decorated lies upon a blanket or the like 20. The latter may be endless or may, as shown, be vwound off the drum 21 onto a drum 22 and subsequently returned. In either case, the spindle 23 of the drying drum 24 is driven in either of two alternative ways. For continuous rotation it is to be driven by an ordinary belt and pulley drive, as indicated by the belt 25. For intermittent drive, a variable throw crank 26 is used to drive the ratchet wheelV 27 through the connecting rod 28 and pawl 29. the throw of the crank varying the extent of the movement made by the drum at each' revolution of the power shaft in a well known manner. In both cases, the drum 22 for the blanket is driven by chain 30 from the spindle 23, and the drum" 31 upon which the finished fabric is finally wound after drying is similarly driven by the chain 32. Any well known form of friction coupling to allow of slip when there is any tendency to excessive tension may be incorporated.

The drive of the sprayer controlling parts of themachine is taken direct by belt 33 from pulley 34 `to pulley 35 and thence by gears 36, 37 and 38, 38, 39, 39 to the vertical telescopic driving spindles 7, 7 already referred to. A continuation'v of the shaft 40 upon which gears 38 are mounted carries a friction wheel 41 against whichV bears a driven friction wheel 42 driving the contact breaker mechanism 18. Wheel 42 is adjustable toward and away from the center of wheel- 41 by means of threaded spindle 43 and vhand wheel 44. In this manner, any desired speed can be imparted to the interchangeable lcontrolling drums or disks of the contact breaker mechanism and the cut-off of the air and coloring fluid may be caused*V to synchronize with thel sprayer movements, either for every gyration of the sprayers or in such manner as to cause the pattern to repeat after any desired interval, The cut-off of the air and coloring fluid may also be adjusted with relation to the movement of the fabric to be decorated. This may be effected by a combination of the choice of contact breaker characteristic, (for example, by choice of the arrangement of contact breaker cams as described in the British specification No. 8,703 of 1903 referred to above) and adjustments as described above, of the speed of rotation of the contact breaker shaft 43 relative to the rotation of the shaft which drives the belt 25 or the crank 26. The adjustment of the periods of cutting off of the sprayers relative to the motion of the fabric is effected by the design of the cams and the timing of their motion with relation to the rotation of the shaft which drives the belt 25 of crank 26, such timing being effected by adjusting the position of the wheel 42 from the center of the wheel 41 by means of the hand Wheel 44.

The bevel wheel 38 is slidably mounted upon the shaft 40, and a nut carried by the associated bracket 2 is mounted on screw 47, which may be operated by means of a hand wheel 48. In this manner, the distance apart of the two sets of sprayers may be adjusted as desired, and the registry of the patterns produced by the sprayers on the moving fabric correspondingly adjusted.

It should now be possible to follow a few examples of the nature of pattern that can be readily produced by means of the invention. For example, if the movement of the web is intermittent and the action of the sprayers is maintained while the web is at rest and cut olf while the web is moving, the sprayers will produce substantially circular spray outlines. If the sprayers are maintained in action while the fabric is moving, then the circular formation of the sprayers will, incident to the movement of the fabric, be reduced in diameter in the direction of fabric movement and thus will overlap to produce a spiral effect. Again, if the movement of the web is intermittent and the action of the sprayers is maintained both while the web is moving and when it is at rest, a series of spirals and circles will be obtained. If the sprayers are gyrated about an inclined axis (or the fabric inclined relatively to the horizontal as indicated at Figure 5), one part of the color will be more spread and shaded 01T where the sprayer is leastV nearly perpendicular to the fabric. Further the air and coloring matter may be cut off during different portions of the gyrationof different sprayers and varying portions of circles and spirals variously shaded may thus be formed. In the case where the movement of the web is continuous, the basis of the curves formed will be rather spiral than circular, but otherwise similar effects are obtainable.

As a further possibility (taking advantage of the movement between the sprayer mountings and the supporting bar), the crank webs 17 may carry the spindles 14a round appropriate cam paths and thus produce an almost infinite variety of basic shapes which may themselves be varied and shaded by different adjustments and may be interpolated by other figures produced at the second row of sprayers.

An attachment enabling this to be achieved in a convenient manner is shown in Figures 6 and 7. As shown in these gures, parallel motion in ay predetermined path is imparted to the frame 12 by simultaneously and similarly moving its two ends. Thus one of the cranks 17 engages an open frame 45 which is attached at its far end to the spindle 14d at the opposite side of the machine. This spindle passes through a cam plate 46 which thereby causes that end of the frame 12 to oscillate up and down the path set by the cam slot 47. The other end of the frame 12 is similarly and simultaneously moved through the medium of an open frame 45a, cam plate 46a and slot 47a, the frame 45a being engaged by the other crank.

As the distance of the delivery point of the sprayers from the fabric can be varied and the angle of delivery also, a great variety of shadings and blendings of color can be produced in a pattern which will repeat itself indefinitely.

The sprayers may be of any convenient design connected by flexible conduits for air and liquid and operated by electric control or otherwise. Provision may be made for a more or less complete atomization of the liquid or a Viscous liquid may be used and effects such as are described in my British Patent No. 254,366 be produced.

l. Apparatus for treating fabric of the kind set forth, comprising a plurality of spraying devices freely supported for movement in all directions within determined limits toi play upon the fabrica guiding member controlling the movement of said spraying devices, means to move the guiding member in a predetermined path and means to move the fabric relatively to said spraying devices.

2. Apparatus for treating fabric of the kind set forth, comprising a plurality of universal joints, spraying devices connected to said universal joints for movement about them, gimbal mountings to said spraying devices, a guiding member carrying said gimbal mountings, and means to impart predetermined motions to said guiding member.

3. Apparatus for treating fabric of the kind set forth, comprising a plurality of spraying devices, means to move the spraying devices angularly relatively to the fabric, means to impart intermittent motion to the fabric, means for supplying coloring fluid to the fabric, means to cut off the supply of coloring fiuid to said spraying devices for determined periods, and means to correlate the timing of the periods of cutting off of the coloring fluid with the movement of the spraying devices and with the movement of the fabric in a multiplicity of ways at will.

4. Apparatus for treating fabric of the kind set forth, comprising a plurality of spraying devices supported by but movable relatively to frames straddling the fabric, means to adjust said frames vertically, means to adjust said frames laterally, and means to impart gyratory movement to said spraying devices.

5. In apparatus for treating fabric of the kind set forth, a plurality of spraying devices and means to guide said spraying devices in circles of varying radius, said means comprising a guiding frame and a pair of variable throw cranks carrying said guiding frame.

6. Apparatus for treating fabric of the kind set forth, comprising a plurality of spraying devices supported by but movable relatively to frames straddling the fabric, means to adjust said frames vertically, means to adjust said frames laterally, and means to impart gyrato-ry movement to said spraying devices, means for supplying coloring fluid to the spraying devices, and regulating means to cut off the supply of coloring matter at desired intervals.

7. In apparatus for treating fabric of the kind set forth, a spraying device mounting comprising an upper support, a stem vertically movable in said support, a universal joint, a spraying device connected to said stem by said universal joint, a lower support, and a member pivoted to said lower support and pivoted to said spraying device upon an axis perpendicular to that of its pivotal connection with said lower support.

8. In apparatus for treating fabric of the kind set forth, a spraying device mounting comprising a support to which the spraying devices are connected by freely angularly and vertically movable connections and a second support to which the lspraying devices are connected by freely angularly movable connecting members, said rst support being fixed, and controlling devices adapted to guide and move said second support to move the spraying devices in predetermined paths.

9. In apparatus for treating fabric of the kind set forth, a spraying device mounting comprising a support to Which the spraying devices are connected by freely angularly and vertically movable connections and a second support to which the spraying devices are connected by freely angularly movable connecting members, said first support being fixed, and controlling devices adapted to guide and move said second support to move the spraying devices in predetermined paths, means for supplying coloring fluid to the spraying devices, and means to cut off the coloring fluid from said spraying devices at determinable intervals and to move the fabric relatively to the supports.

10. In apparatus for treating fabric of the kind set forth, a spraying device mounting comprising a support to Which the spraying devices are connected by freely angularly and vertically movable connections and a second support to which the spraying devices are connected by freely angularly movable connecting members, said first support being fixed, and controlling devices adapted to guide and move said second support to move the spraying devices in predetermined paths, means for supplying coloring fluid to the spraying devices, and means to cut oif the coloring fluid from said spraying devices at determinable intervals and to move the fabric intermittently relatively to the supports.

l1. In apparatus for treating fabric of the kind set forth, a number of spraying devices, a frame universally jointed to said spraying devices, a second frame universally jointed to said spraying devices, means to move the frames relatively to one another to guide and direct said spraying devices, and means to move the fabric relatively to said frames.

l2. Apparatus for treating continuous lengths of fabric, comprising sets of brackets, rows of spraying devices carried by said brackets and having delivery nozzles, screw means for causing relative motion of said brackets, means to impart a complete circular movement to said delivery nozzles, and means to move said fabric relatively to said delivery nozzles.

CHARLES LAURENCE BURDICK. 

